Death of a Hero
by The Geeky Quill
Summary: The subtitle is: A Trip Through The FanFiction Twilight Zone. A sad and also bizarre story. c.beg.of D.H. after Moody dies. Charlie, must go settle Moody's affairs and attend Bill's wedding. Charlie's wife is Madeline, the Squib sister of Moody.
1. Chapter 1

a/n1: _As always, I don't own any of the Harry Potter world. I'm just writing for the sheer pleasure of it. I hope you'll find the story sometimes sad, quite odd at times, and maybe even humorous once in a while. _

a/n2: _This takes place near the beginning of Deathly Hallows, after Mad-Eye Moody dies. Madeline is Moody's squib (non-magical) sister and Charlie Weasley's wife. We begin the story in Romania._

Death of A Hero

or

A Trip Through The Fan Fiction Twilight Zone

by

The Geeky Quill

Day 1

It seemed to Charlie that this was going to be a normal week, but in fact it would quickly turn tragic, then unsettling and eventually, down right mad.

As soon as he hit the first step of the porch of their cottage, Charlie felt something was not right. The front windows were open as usual, but it was far too quiet inside. Normally he could hear his wife, Madeline, singing loudly, if not well. He opened the door. On the sofa sat Charlie's father, Arthur, and curled up next to him, was Madeline, her face hidden as she huddled at his side. Arthur looked at Charlie with a regretful frown. Charlie approached slowly with brow furrowed. Madeline turned. Her eyes were red and swollen and her cheeks were streaked with tears. She attempted to speak, but could manage nothing more than a choked squeak. Charlie rushed to her side. She fell into his arms. Over her head, Charlie gave his father a questioning look. Arthur only mouthed the name, "Alastor." He understood immediately that his wife's brother was dead. He'd learn the details later.

Later, Madeline was hardly conscious as the men stood by talking in hushed voices about the will and Charlie's brother, Bill's, wedding. She lay dazed on the sofa. Arthur walked over, leaned down, and kissed her on the forehead. "Niffler, I have to go." His voice betrayed his feelings of helplessness. She looked at him all forlorn. He stroked her disheveled coal black hair and kissed her again before standing back up with a sigh. He went to the door, said his goodbyes to his son, and looked sadly in Madeline's direction before leaving.

Day 2

Madeline caught up to Charlie's friend on the path. She was panting

"Nottingham!"

He turned with surprise. "Hi Maddy." Besides Bill, Nod was the only person who called her that.

"I need to talk to you," she said.

The squat round wizard said, "Sure." He knew she was in grief over the loss of her brother.

"Charlie's going to England to..." She paused before continuing, "to take care of my brother's will and his...house, um... and to go to his brother's wedding. I want you to go with him." Then she added, "Please."

He started to chuckle, but stopped himself. "You're serious."

"Nottingham, it's dangerous in England right now. I..." She stifled a sob. "I'm scared something will happen to him," she said uncharacteristically. Fear wasn't a big emotion in Madeline's world. Risk-taking had always been somewhat of a sport to her.

Nod looked at her with disbelief. "You want _me _to be Charlie's bodyguard?" he said with a smirk.

She nodded. "Please."

He rubbed his chin and looked around, half expecting someone to leap out of the trees to announce this was a practical joke. Nobody had ever asked this sort of thing of him and he didn't know if he should laugh or be flattered.

Madeline took his hand. "You have to do this," she said in earnest. Then suddenly she went pale and ran off the path, knelt down, and got sick.

"Oi!," exclaimed Nod. "You don't have to be so dramatic. He walked over and his voice softened. "Oh, you're really sick, Maddy. Let me get Charlie."

She shook her head, "No." She took a handkerchief from her pocket, wiped her mouth. "No." She breathed deeply and stood up. "Don't tell Charlie."

"Why?" asked Nod.

"Because, Nottingham," she answered, "I'm pregnant."

"That's great! Doesn't Charlie know?"

"Not yet. He'd worry about me. I'll tell him when he comes back. I don't think he'd go if he knew."

"Still, I don't see why-"

"Promise me you won't tell."

"O.K. I won't tell him. You should tell Camelia, though. She's a girl and she might know how to make some kind of remedy for the nausea, _and the insanity_," he added under his breath.

"Are you kidding? She's got that same honesty/integrity thing that Charlie has. She'd tell him for sure," said Madeline.

He laughed. "Yeah, you're right."

"I'll tell her after he leaves."

"You don't look so good, Maddy," he observed with one raised brow. "I thought pregnant ladies were supposed to glow or something," he said half teasing.

She squinted at him. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."


	2. Chapter 2

Day 3

It was evening and Charlie was packing for his trip to England. His suitcase was open on the bed. He was slightly peeved that Madeline had invited Nod to dinner on their last evening together for at least a week. From the bedroom, he could see Nod sitting on the sofa thumbing through a quidditch magazine. Madeline sailed into the sitting room and handed Nod a glass of wine and then leaned over to whisper something in his ear. Charlie never considered himself the jealous sort, but suddenly he felt uneasy going out of the country. He had been so glad that Nod and Madeline hit it off right from the start. They had a similar sarcastic sense of humor that always kept Charlie in stitches, but lately Madeline seemed different. He had attributed it to the loss of her brother, but now, seeing her and Nod as seeming co-conspirators, he felt suspicious.

She came into the bedroom with a false smile and handed him a glass with a kiss. "Supper in ten, my love." She looked at the suitcase and said wistfully, "Maybe I should go too."

"Derry Dol, we've been through this. I promised Alastor that I wouldn't bring you back into the country for any reason until the war was over," said Charlie.

She bit her lip and her eyes began to glisten.

"Sh," he hushed as he put an arm around her. "It's ok. I won't be gone long." He kissed her on the forehead. "If you want, I won't stay for the wedding."

"No, no, no! You have to go to Bill's wedding. He'd be crushed if you didn't," she said. "Besides," she added, "he'd simply kill me if I kept you from it."

"I do wish you could go too," he frowned.

"I don't mind so much. I don't think Fleur likes me anyway." She laughed slightly.

"Sure she does," he retorted.

Madeline shook her head. "No. She talks to me like I'm an idiot or a Muggle."

They could hear Nottingham chuckle in the sitting room, causing Charlie to feel perturbed. Madeline sauntered out of the bedroom and threw a glance at Nod which Charlie was unable to interpret.

At supper, Charlie said, "Derry Dol, can I get you a glass of wine?"

Nod answered on her behalf, "No." Madeline and Charlie both looked at him and he reddened. "Er."

"No, thank you." She kicked Nod under the table.

"Ouch, um...," said Nod, "Charlie, I was thinkin', you might like some company on your trip."

"Eh?" said Charlie.

"Me mum's been whinin' 'bout missin' me, ye know," said Nod.

"What a great idea!" Madeline said with a bit too much enthusiasm.

Charlie looked from one to the other.

"That would be so nice," continued Madeline. "You would have someone to go to the wedding with and help you at Alastor's house." Her voice choked a bit on that last part.

"Uh hm," agreed Nod.

Charlie made small incredulous noises as he glanced back and forth between them. Then he said, "That's what this is all about? You two were plotting to get me to take Nod with me?" Both Nod and Madeline looked away guiltily and Charlie let out a good natured chuckle. "I thought..." He shook his head. "Never mind. Yeah, sure, why not?" He couldn't understand why it was such a big deal. "Why didn't you just say so?" He took Madeline's hand and smiled fondly.

"We didn't think you'd be too keen on traveling with a personal body guard," said Nod.

"Well, _that's_ debatable," Charlie said with a laugh. "Have you anything to wear to a wedding?" He raised a brow at his friend's almost garish wizard robes. Nod had the habit of looking like the wizarding equivalent of a stereotypical used car salesman.

"I've _got_ me dress robes," said Nod with mock indignation.

Madeline grabbed her purple porkpie hat off the chest behind her and tossed to him. "Here. Everything goes with purple."

He donned the hat and smoothed his robes. His cheeks glowed from the wine.

"You'll make Charlie a fine date," Madeline snorted.

Day 4

_(a/n: Leela first appeared in my story, "Sirius Black's Sanctuary.")_

Charlie Weasley, an average wizard, has gone to take care of the affairs of his wife's deceased brother with the help of a friend. He is sorting through the contents of an ordinary home in what he _thinks_ is a London burrow, but in reality, he has stepped into _The Fan Fiction Twilight Zone. (cue Twilight Zone theme music)_

Charlie and Nod were going over a copy of Alastor's will and setting aside the items to be given to specific people. It was pretty straightforward for the most part. Now and then an item had them stumped. For example, they had trouble locating the gunkelspiel which was to be for Elphias Doge. This was chiefly because they had no idea what the heck it was. Plus, one of the invisibility cloaks was missing, as were both sneakoscopes. What was more difficult was dealing with the myriad of items _not_ named in the will. Charlie couldn't begin to guess what Madeline would want to keep and what could be gotten rid of.

"Well, Charlie, me mate, we're near the end," announced Nod unexpectedly.

"What are you talking about? There's masses of things to go through. We haven't even opened the trunks in the bedrooms," said Charlie.

"In a short while, you'll get to choose your own fate. After the wedding, in fact."

"You been into Alastor's potions or something?" asked Charlie as he looked oddly at his friend.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. The two men looked at each other and pulled out their wands. "What if it's Moody and he's not really dead?" joked Nod in very poor taste.

"Nonsense. Why would he knock on his own door?" said Charlie. He opened the door. Standing there was a tall grey haired witch.

"You must be Charlie. Lovely to see you." Charlie and Nod stood gaping at her. "I'm Leela," she continued. "Leela Fischer, Madeline and Alastor's cousin."

"Oh, of course! Come in," said Charlie. He felt a little stupid. Madeline had lived with her on her island at one point and while he had never personally met Leela, Madeline told him all about her. "This is Nottingham Goyle," he said.

She smiled. "You must be surprised to see me, a minor non-canon character, but it just made sense that I should be here."

"Er," said Charlie stupidly.

"Anyway," she continued, "If Nottingham can be here, so can I."

"Oi love! At least I'm canon," put in Nod.

Charlie looked at him as if he were mad. "Canon?"

"Preposterous!" laughed Leela.

"I _am_. You just don't recognize me without me hat." He grabbed the purple porkpie hat Madeline had given him and popped it onto his head and posed. "Eh? Eh? You see now?"

Leela smiled indulgently at him. "Aye, I see it now. You'll be going to the wedding then."

"Wouldn't miss it," Nod answered with a grin.

"Hello!" boomed Charlie. "I can't follow a thing you two are saying. We've got sorting to do." They just looked at him. "Never mind. I'm going to try and open the trunks in the spare bedroom." He stomped away in annoyance.

"What's eating him?" asked Nod.

"Don't know. Anyway, you're merely a wallpaper character whose sole purpose is to get drunk with Charlie and Hagrid and sing _"Odo the Hero" _at the wedding reception"

He just rolled his eyes and walked over to the shelf. "What's this?"

"Phonograph," answered Leela.

"I've heard of those." Nod poked it with his wand. The record began to turn, the needle dropped into place, and Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale" began to play. "Oh," said Nod with a sour face, "So that's what they sound like." He tapped the phonograph with his wand, the needle rose, and the disk stopped turning. "Come along," he said to Leela. They went into the spare bedroom.

Charlie was on his knees in front of an open trunk and reading a letter. "Merlin! Madeline's kept every letter I ever sent her," he said. He pulled another bundle of letters out of the trunk. "Oi, there's a bunch from by brother, Percy." He read one aloud, "_Madeline, If you mention my parents again, I shan't write anymore. I'm through with them..._"

"That's so sad," said Leela.

"Yeah." Charlie tossed it aside without reading further. "_Prat_," he muttered under his breath. He pulled out a photo of a young Moody canoodling with a girl. Charlie squinted at it. "Great Merlin! That's Madam Bridget, my mum's midwife."

a/n: _If you don't know "A Whiter Shade of Pale," I recommend you give it a listen. Unfortunately, Nottingham doesn't share the enthusiasm that Moody and I have for it. _


	3. Chapter 3

_a/n: I apologize in advance for this one. I mean no disrespect to J.K. Rowling nor to my noble readers. I just went temporarily insane while writing about the death of my favorite character. Well...um...(the author quietly steps out)._

Day 5

At the Leaky Cauldron, Charlie sat at the bar with Leela and Nod. They were downing pints of licorice ale. An owl flew in and landed in front of Tom, the barman. He removed the letter from its leg and read it. Then he called out. "Oi! I've got a message for!" He paused to squint at the letter, then read aloud the name, "I.P. Freely!" Leela, Nod, and a few other in the pub laughed. However, the joke was lost on Charlie. "I don't know who this is. It's from somebody named Bart Simpson," said Tom.

"Don't know him," said Charlie. "Then again, I've been in Romania."

Presently, a rather fat wizard in a muggle suit walked into the bar. Various disembodied voices called out, "Norm!"

"Hi guys," he said in an American accent. Then, the Energizer bunny rolled by singing "_Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name_."

"Ok, I've had enough," announced Charlie, pushing his ale aside. "I want to get things squared away at Alastor's place. Mum wanted me at the Burrow today to help out and come to Harry's birthday party tonight."

"Charlie," said Leela, "Why is it called the Burrow if it's above ground?"

"Oi!" Nod smacked his own forehead. "I completely forgot; me mum's expecting me for lunch today."

"You blokes go ahead. I'll go back to Alastor's," said Leela as she stood up.

"Really?" asked Charlie.

She nodded, "It'll be easier for me to figure out what to keep and what to toss out and if I mess up, you can blame it on me." She patted his ox-like shoulder. "Besides, you look a bit peaky, Charlie."

He nodded, "Thanks."

The three went their separate ways and Charlie couldn't help wondering if he was going mad or if some sort of anomaly or paradox had occurred the moment when Leela and Nottingham met. Then he mused about what sort of name is _Nottingham_ anyway? That's a place, not a name. He resolved to give his kids (if he ever had any) sensible names like Hugo or Scorpius. Then he shook his head vigorously at the thought and decided he should give up licorice ale for good.

Day 6

At the wedding reception, Charlie sat at a corner table with Hagrid and Nod. They had been drinking a bit too much and were singing wizard drinking songs. They had just begun the second verse of "_Odo The Hero_," when a lovely looking blonde novelist strolled by. She disappeared into the crowd just as Leela ran up and slid into Hagrid who barely noticed. She was panting.

"Damn! I missed her!" exclaimed Leela.

"Who?" asked Charlie.

"Oh, never mind. I just missed my chance at being canon," she said bitterly.

Nod cackled heartlessly, so she slapped him. Hagrid finished the song himself and looked up from his mug. For the first time, he noticed Leela's arrival. Hagrid said, "Oh, hello there," and began to stand up.

"Please don't mind me," Leela said as she pulled up a chair.

"Hagrid, this is Madeline's cousin, Leela," said Charlie.

"Good to meet ya, BURP, sorry," said Hagrid.

Charlie handed Leela a pint of bitter. Hagrid shook his hairy head drunkenly, "Ah, the world's gone all topsy turvy just like in the first war. People dyin,' turnin' traitor." Leela nodded and patted his arm sympathetically.

"Know what you mean," said Nod. "Next thing you know, kids will be ridin' dragons and talking parseltongue."

Charlie laughed a little too loudly and then had to wipe ale off his chin. "People don't ride dragons, Nod. That's preposterous. Sounds like one of those muggle fairy tales that Madeline used to read, and just _who _do you figure is going to speak parseltongue?"

"Well, BURP," said Nod, "maybe one of your brothers, Charlie."

"Alright, you've had too much to drink, Nod. We'd better go before you make a spectacle of yourself." Charlie stood up and promptly fell to the floor, taking the table and his chair with him. This, however, did not cause as much of a commotion as you'd think, because at that moment, a silver lynx with the voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt fell through the canopy onto the dance floor and announced that The Ministry had fallen and the Minister of Magic was dead. After that, everything got _really_ weird. Panic, chaos, Death Eaters, et al.

Day 7

The following day, things had settled down. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were gone. In the kitchen, Charlie looked like an angry bull dog as he verbally tore into his father.

"How could you let my baby brother go off like that!" He shouted.

"Settle down, Charlie," replied Arthur. "Your brother is a lot more capable than you think. Besides, do you really think I could have stopped him when he was set on going with Harry?"

"And this crazy scheme with the ghoul in Ron's room pretending to be him! Dad, that's just _weird_!" exclaimed Charlie.

Molly came into the kitchen at that moment. "Oh, Charlie, your brother," she sobbed. He put an arm around her.

"Mum, it's all right. I'll go look for him," said Charlie.

Arthur said, "You'll not find him, son. It's best to let those three stay hidden as best they can. They were going on some mission. I don't know what." He frowned at his wife, "Mollywobbles, please try and understand."

Molly sobbed some more into Charlie's shirt. He gently pried her off of him. "Mum, I'm going to find Ron." He made for the door just as Nod entered.

"Hey, mate." Nod hesitated, noticing the mood in the kitchen.

"Charlie, don't go," said Arthur.

When Nod looked quizzically at Charlie, he explained, "I'm going to look for my brother and his friends."

"No mate, that's not such a good idea," said Nod.

"Everyone's gone crazy! Let me by," said Charlie, but Nod wouldn't move to let him pass.

"Listen, your place is in Romania," said Nod.

Charlie rolled his eyes and banged his fist on a cupboard door, causing it to crack. "Yeah, in the middle of a bloody war, that my family is obviously in the middle of, or didn't you notice the Death Eaters at my brother's wedding? I'm supposed to leave the bloody country?!?!" he boomed.

"Your family?" shouted Nod. "Your family is your wife and she needs you right now!"

Arthur and Molly had both gone silent and were watching the argument. Arthur had his arm around his wife.

"I know! She's grieving, but this isn't about who's been killed, it's about preventing more people from getting killed! She'll understand," Charlie added through clenched teeth.

"Damn!" said Nod. "I promised I wouldn't tell you."

"Tell me what?" demanded Charlie.

Nod let out a sigh before blurting, "Madeline's pregnant."

By that evening, Charlie was back in Romania. He walked through the front door of their cottage. Madeline's back was to the door. She was hugging a blanket around herself and gently swaying to "A Whiter Shade of Pale," which was playing on her CD player. Charlie quietly shut the door and went to her. She dropped the blanket and they wrapped their arms around each other and danced slowly to the music.


End file.
